Curious Findings (17) : Maybe it’s got something to do with the weather, or the construction, or all the other general oddities that seem to occur in Destiny City, but for the first time in nearly fifty years, the historic tree in one of Downtown Destiny City’s parks has woken up. While the tree was known for being alive and growing despite a lengthy hibernation, this is the first year that it’s sprouted leaves–but that’s not all! The unique tree has now also started growing strange pods. Because of the trees legacy–and not at all because of the oddity–the area has been taped off, but that really hasn’t been enough to stop anyone curious enough to investigate. The tree itself is several feet wide and stands roughly fifty feet tall; it’s branches spread significantly and seem like they can hold a lot of weight–which is good, because the pods growing on it have a hard brown shell and can grow up to the size of a soccer ball. Sometimes, the larger ones seem to tremble and shake in place. Maybe it's an animal trying to nibble? Maybe it’s just the wind? Maybe it’s something else. The pods can be pulled from the tree or collected from the ground; the shells are incredibly difficult to crack open, and some of them leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric. Sometimes, the healthier looking pods that aren’t leaking anything even seem to shake on their own, which is a mystery in itself. Another mystery is why Almadel seems so keen to trade for them…
Caution itself had never really kept Malory, now Hyris out, from going where he wanted, so mere caution tape wasn't about to, either. He strolled past like he owned the place, giving it all a very discerning eye. (Maybe there was a good place to hide a mirror. Maybe there was a good place to get Hela to do another photoshoot. Maybe there was a nice date and/or draining spot tucked away in here.) The tree was nice and dramatic, at least. The fruits however...
Malory wrinkled his nose a little. Maybe he was just picky, but he preferred fruits he could hold and gently squeeze in the palm of his hand...not these less hairy coconut sorts of things. He nudged one that had broken on the ground with his boot. Whatever they leaked didn't seem very pleasant, either. Why was that Merchant asking for this sort of thing?
amorremanet
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 12:10 pm
When faced with caution tape, Kaifeng usually felt one of two very powerful emotions. Firstly, a sense that someone was trying to personally inconvenience him, if not outright ruin his life. How perfectly rude!! Most of the time, he vaguely recognized that this was not the case and that sometimes, caution tape simply meant that a dangerous situation had been cordoned off to try and prevent people from messing around and getting themselves hurt. Rationally speaking, that probably described most situations in which one could have found oneself staring down caution tape, trying to go down some path or other only to be stymied by that hateful yellow nonsense.
On the other hand, Kaifeng’s second feeling when someone threw up some caution tape in his path? Was a burning, bone-deep need to misbehave. Like a cat who simply needed to knock over the rare and priceless valuable that you placed on a tippy-top high-up shelf, just to spite you for trying to thwart the cat’s divinely given right to break whatever they felt like breaking, Kaifeng saw a challenge written in those black block letters that warned him “CAUTION: KEEP OUT!” over and over and over again. (Certain friends of Zhìháo’s grandfather, much like whoever had put up this tape around the mysteriously blooming tree, relied far too much on the alleged authority of those warnings. Frankly, they deserved to have all their neatly ordered plans ******** up, same as all the silly humans who thought to deprive their cats of the ability to break things.)
As he approached the tree, Kaifeng felt a distinctly Chaotic aura—but it felt more like that nice friend of Encke and Pendour’s. Also like the loudmouth brat from the picnic tables, who hadn’t known Marxist theory from a hole in the wall but had acted like they did anyway. Dark Mirror senshi, then. Rocking up close enough to his destination that he could see the boy already over by the Tree of Mystery and Wonder, Kaifeng had his suspicions confirmed. The boy’s outfit seemed to have plenty of the hallmarks of the senshi running around Destiny City: a silver circlet perched on his pretty little head; a fancy collar, though his had a fur lining where Murikabushi’s had had lace and the Picnic Table Brat’s had had a fancy choker instead; and the two things that all the Dark Mirror senshi Kaifeng had met had in common, silver bracers on the arms and a gauzy overlay on their outfits.
Right at the edge of the caution tape—on the verge of purposefully and deliberately spiting whoever had put it here—Kaifeng paused to tilt his head at……whatever the pretty boy Mirror senshi thought he was doing. “Don’t think the dragon-man’s going to take the fruits if you kick them like that, didi,” Kaifeng said, giving the boy a pensive pout. Maybe he was trying to investigate something about the fruits, unrelated to the dragon-man who wanted to trade them for interesting claptrap? “Or are you learning something by doing that?”
lizbot
kaifeng does not know he's giving hybris too much credit here, i'm sorry for him XD
"I think," Hybris began, glad he hadn't been doing anything too questionable, knight's were so...fighty! "...that nudging odd things on the ground with one's boot is very possibly a required part of the human experience."
Turning to look at the knight, his eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise that melted into a very distinct pleasure. "Oh hi, you survived! We were hoping you would. It takes a very special kind of crazy to antagonize a general with a sword inside of you. And you did it with such charisma! Such flair!"
The senshi gave a tiny clap of delighted applause, and then posed oddly, like...there was a sword in him. His expression held a broad, bright grin and he brought a hand up, as if holding a fan, and gave a firm snap of the wrist. Giving the invisible attacker a sharp snap on the nose.
axmorremanet
Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 11:27 pm
—Oh! Oh, well, then! The recognition and surprise in the boy’s reaction left Kaifeng ever so slightly gobsmacked, tilting his head at the boy for a moment. The flair of the whole performance elicited some polite appreciative applause (for all the praise he’d sent at Kaifeng, the boy had more than enough charisma of his own, and truly, it merited recognition), but Kaifeng still felt a bit bemused about the whole thing when……? “Huh. Y’know, I didn’t actually expect that anybody had been watching that.”
With a bashful smile, he ruffled a hand over the top of his head, mussing up his bangs and hair a bit. By way of explanation, he added, “Not that I didn’t think people might see or anything, but……well. You were there, so I suppose you saw all the havoc that went on. Understandable, I think, to guess that people might have been rather a bit busy looking out for themselves.”
Though……if this Dark Mirror senshi was friends with the one who’d spread her rotted, word salad misunderstandings of Marxist theory all over that picnic table with Daedalus, then per her testimony, they hadn’t really done very much of anything. Still, there had been ever so much commotion. The very on-fire General-Sovereign who happened to also be a cute monster-boy. Aforementioned on-fire monster-boy summoning ever so many youma out of gods-only-knew where and setting them loose on everybody, then trying whatever he had tried with Cybele-jie that had made her sprout those princess wings. All the clashing and the fighting—one little Saturn page didn’t seem like he ought to have been very noteworthy.
Except for how some people apparently disagreed.
Either way, this Dark Mirror senshi seemed to be behaving, so although Kaifeng paused briefly to snatch up a star-charm off the ground—oh, emerald green! lovely!—he rocked up over the caution tape and approached the tree. Pointing up at the strange fruits, he asked, “Want an extra set of hands in gathering these?”
"Oh, we were just there to watch," Hybris admittedly easily, grin softening a little at the page's shy bit of restlessness. "We're too small to mix in with you big guys when you fight, but it's important to know what's happening, right?" He gave a gusty sigh, "It was such a nasty to-do, but seeing your fight was so memorable. Like a scene out of a story."
With the knight's offer to help, Hybris decided that his first impression was accurate: crazy, cute, not mean. "Would you please? I'd like to find some nice ones, I hear Mister Merchant is picky." And handsome.
Holding out a hand, he introduced himself, "I'm Hybris, Senshi of Eggplants." And then, not one to withhold a compliment, added, "You're really living up to that chivalric first impression, you know?"
